The Fire Wakes
by Servant of Fire
Summary: Being the last part of the Tales of New Shadow. In memory of Professor Tolkien.
1. Chapter 1 Deed of Seven Days

**The Fire Wakes~**

**Being the Last part of the Tales of New Shadow_**

**In memory of Professor Tolkien: Because I can only hope you would be somewhat flattered at how I tried to "go on with the telling".~**

**Chapter One: A Deed of Seven Days~**

Bilbo awoke with a gasp. He was lying in the dust, of what looked to be a prison camp. A rough rope was around his neck, and he'd landed hard on a stone; his back ached him as reminder.

He found himself confused, and panting as if he had fallen asleep under-water, had a frightening dream, and then been pulled up out of the cold abyss before it could carry him off.

The little dwarf maiden from before stood before him, hands over her mouth, to stifle a scream...

Like the waves of the Last Dark the memory came rushing back.

"Oh..." he said flattly, sitting up.

The girl squealed...

"Nah,nah...shhh,shoosh!" he gasped, putting a finger to his lips. "It's quite alright, I don't remember ever having bitten any one, least of all a pretty little lady such as yourself...But didn't you remember?,I told you we'd talk about this again...How many days has it been, anyway?"

"Seven..." the girl said, slowly lowering her hands...

Thorin moaned, as he woke, and coughed, deep, wracking, wheezing coughs...

"We have lived, and _died_, your stories, Master Baggins...Plenty of pages for your book now, I think..."

"Yes, well, I suppose... But before I do any writing, I promised to tell this little lady all about it, didn't I? Before I was hanged, right?"

"Yes...But I didn't believe you..."

He beckoned her closer, but she shied away,.."Tsk,tsk! I'm NOT going to bite you, little one. And anyway,it's hard to be shouting a story over furnaces,and all this..whatever all this is, about us..."

The girl giggled,"Fancy you calling anyone _little..."_

Bilbo smiled, and this made the girl at last calm, like the sea the morning after the heavy rain. "Well, you are little, and perhaps I am even more."

She crawled forward, and knelt in front of him with eager eyes. Bilbo blinked, in momentary confusion,head still clearing, and gasped. She took his hand. Small child fingers, and small Hobbit fingers lacing together, was like the lock in the bolt of the cottage door, and safety ,clarity, and peace filled Bilbo's mind and heart, and he shook it off, and began...

"Well, let's see...it all was a "Deed of Seven Days" that much you already know. But those were the longest, fullest, most exciting and strange days of my life!"

"Mm...Bilbo?" Thorin muttered ,out of the corner of his mouth, sitting up. The child blinked...

"Well,you know what I...ehem...as I was saying...As soon as we, well, you saw what happened to us, we fell deep under water and..."

The telling began to take shape in Bilbo's calm,litting voice. And the dwarves began to sit up, and pull their nooses off, one by one, sleepy, blinking in wonder at all that had happened.

Bilbo still chattering away, Thorin leaned over, and plucked the noose off of him, it getting caught on his nose, and thick curls, and-

"The ship started swaying, and-oh!ow!..why?...Thank you...uhmmm..."

The girl laughed, as Thorin ,with a flourish,spun the accursed thing on a finger, and threw it towards the Dwarf-Keep's gate.

Kili just then sat up, and smoothed his wind-blown hair away from his no-longer-death-palored face, and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his palms. He fancied the gate was creaking open. In fact it was...

Into the midst of the Dwarf-Keep, strode smoking, but steady, and still shining as star-light, Tauriel the She-Elf,sword lowered at her side, and dragging the head of the King of the Balrogs...

Kili's mouth gaped at sight of her, and hers gaped at sight of him.

Bilbo looked up, as one by one, their friends began to slip inside, alive now,battle weary but un-hurt. Frodo was being carried on Sam's shoulders, and looked as if he had a fever, but that was all.

Last of all came the Lord Himself, and with Him, a Princess with ringlets of golden hair, and eyes like the Silmarils.

"Look!Here come the heroes of our adventure...And there are alot more stories to tell, than just my part." Bilbo cried, for joy, now that it was over.

The Lord began to seat them all ,together with the Newly Freed Peoples, around Bilbo, "Begin the story, Master Baggins,...and we shall add to the telling with ours..." said He.

So, Bilbo began again, in a louder voice, "_It was a Deed of Seven Days..."_


	2. Chapter 2 The Age of Men Comes Crashing

**Chapter 2: When the Age of Men Comes Crashing Down~**

A hush fell, and it seemed as though the light dimmed, and the Company of Oakenshield built a fire,for returning from the dead had made them cold, and Eowyn ,Queen of the Wind, and Faramir ,Captain of the Sky, came and sat at it. Not even the rush of breath, nor the bending of the twig ,as a bird pauses for thought, was heard, as Bilbo's pleasant voice, with its soft and kind- natured lit, filled the air:

_It was a deed of seven days. And I was there,standing on the deck of the Iron Horse,barefoot as is the way of my people, against the deck of blistering metal, and I watched as the Age of Men came crashing down,..._

_In a firey instant, as the Prince of the Sun burned away like the dieing of the Day-Star, and my own dear nephew ,Frodo called Nine-Fingered, was caught in the blaze,as leaves to the cook-fire..."_

He filled his hands with dusty twigs, and tossed them into Thorin's fire for example, and the Lord -of -Silver- Fountains blew the sparks around , and for a moment they shone with flame, as bright as drops of gold.

Bilbo's voice grew low and sad:

_And just then the sky, oh the sky!, it went very, very dark,with the abscence of the Son. And then I heard Aragorn's voice rise up out of the midst, and I heard him say,_

_"Now comes the day when the Age of Men comes crashing down...But shall we not still fight?"_

Aragorn smiled, as he remembered, and lit his pipe, and pulled the hood of Northern Rangers low over his keen ,grey eyes.

Bilbo's eyes were full of the reflection of fire, both from without him where he sat, and within him where he wandered yet, sleep-walking somewhere beyond the snowy blanket of his grave.

_And fight we did..._

_For then I saw her, the Lady of the Shieldarm, as she climbed up the great neck of the Horse, high up the prow she climbed, and drew the Sword of Winter, even as in that moment, the Serpents of the Deep were called up with a voice like the Mouth of Sauron. And the Captain Faramir, oh truly a man of GREAT quality, you are sir!__

And Faramir shrank against his sky blue cloak, and smiled, almost like a shy lad, and Eowyn jostled him with her elbow,smiling brightly as the far- off stars, for indeed there had never been words more true.

__I saw him steer the Horse, straight for the Jaws of that Serpent called Death, who was Seven Times the size of Smaug the Tyrant, and whose teeth were great as mountains, and bright as swords, and gilded with bronze. The Death- Serpent was he, and would have swallowed our ship, had it not been for Theoden Horse Master..._

"And there is also a man of GREAT quality!" Eowyn cried, and tears lit her steel- grey eyes. And the old king laughed, the wizened laugh of grey-beards. For he knew he did only as a father would have done.

"Why don't you tell this part, my lord?" asked Bilbo ,smiling broadley, eyes tired, weary from the journey over the Water.

_Nothing great to tell, Master Baggins..._began the old king,_It was the Prince Who promised it me, before His dieing .Saying I would slay one of the Beasts of Winter, that had been the instrument of the death of Eowyn my sister-daughter. And so, when I saw her stride, sword aloft, into the midst of the Teeth, and when I saw all manner of foul, undead and vomited- forth things, I sailed my little ship straight for the storm,and nested her in the great masts of the Horse._

_Then leaped I from the prow of our little vessel, even as the Eight Walkers,bereft of the Ninth, poured over the sides of the ship, down the masts, like one swings from vines, and landed on the burning deck, even as Thorin here, mustered his dwarves together, against many wraiths coughed from blood-drunken lungs of the great Serpents that had swallowed them. Leaped I, sword straight for the space between the Death-Serpent's eyes..._

There was a hush, and a cold wind blew from out of the memory of shadow, and Eowyn said in a low voice:

"And so the Battle of the Seven Days began at the end of our time,..."

And then Tirgil nodded at her, as if to say it was her turn to tell the story, and she drew a breath.

_Rage filled Old Death, with the sword of Theoden buried deep to the hilt in the folds of his so the dark serpent breathed the two of us in, and into the twisted bowls of the Serpent we fell, and most unpleasant a dream for us, much longer than the Seven Days it seemed..._

The flames danced like candle light about her steel- clad body , as she began to tell the story of the Midnight of Horse-Lords...


	3. Chapter 3 The Midnight of Horse Lords

**Chapter 3: The Midnight of Horse-Lords**

_I awoke,(or rather I slept, for the poison in the belly of the Snake was that which made only dreams) and I lay on my face in ashes cold as my soul, and my old Enemy, the Witch King of Angmar, stood above me, gloating with his mace..._

_Said I, "Well now, Lord of Carrion, will you kill me and feed me to your crows?There is very little left but steel for them, though I think they are fond of shining things..."_

_Then he lowered his great mace. "It is not in my hand to do harm anymore, thou fool...Oh, always the fool, wert thou..."_

_And then down from the East, and down from the West, and up from the South, and down from the North came they, the Horses that gnaw the flesh and bones of men. _

_Great horses were they, I saw them run swiftly to meet the men of Rohan,in battle on the fields of Pelennor. And they opened wide their mouths, and they had no teeth, but the strainers of whales, and these of brass so hot it burned the eyes to look apoun, like when a man long shut away in darkness, steps into the sun._

_And they swallowed the horse and rider, and tore into his flesh, so that blood spilled on the field, like the juice when the grapes are trod in the winepress._

_And then I heard a great groaning, and turned, and I saw Snowmane, fighting to the death against the serpents that would fill him with the vile curse, and cause him to turn again and devour his master. Lo! ,then I saw Snowmane thrash and kick, and with the great neighing cries of the beast, he called on the Secret Fire, and it ended the days of Lightfoote's swift, and faithful foal._

_And then the King of Rohan, Master of the Lords of Horses stood before me, and I, who loved my lord as a father,felt like falling to my knees._

_And then his eyes grew wide, and he looked on my enemy..."_

At this Theoden interrupted, "Because I knew then what you had done. Never had it been as clear to me, what the sacrifice of Eowyn was ,until that moment in the dream."

She smiled, sadly, and then her narrative began again,

_"Then the Lord of Carrion,gurgled laughter in his throat, with shattered face my sword did pierce, and, again he raised his mighty mace, and called apoun the Host of the Dust. Spiders so small, you could fit whole legions on a drop of water, rose from the ground, and spun webs as black as the bridal veil of the Vampiress ,whilst yet she lived, before I, even I, slew her._

_And then,as I stood, behold my cousin, the Prince of Horse-Lords, Theodred,rode hard for the Man-Eaters,that bellowed with the voices of great beasts, and pawed the earth. Eomer came also, from out of the starlight, sword swining like that of the Hunter across the evening sky..._

_Then there was a hush, as the Midnight of Horse-Lords fell swiftly about us. But I heard still the horns of the Eorlingas, the horns of the morning, out of the midst of the night._

_And then out of the dust, rose the Enemies of all our history, and those that long ravaged our lands with plundering. And so it was, that I saw Eomund my father, as he looked when I was a child of seven and he was cut down, and he fought sword to sword with a prince of the goblins, and I knew him to be Azog the Defiler, and wondered greatly at this._

_And then my Lord Theoden said to me, "This time...We ride together."_

_And then, I knew, what he intended to do.I am a shieldmaiden,the last of the House of Eorl. I can ride, and wield bow as well as blade, and I tamed a great many of the wild foals of the mearas when it came their time._

_The Man-Eaters rode hard for my lord and I. He hoisted his great golden shield, and held it out, just enough to blind the creature, whilst I ran, and leaped, and such a fight I have never known in my ...well, I shall say life for lack of a better word. But then when the struggle was over, I reached out my hand, and the great king tossed me his shield with which I blinded the Shepherd of the Man-Eaters,strong young stallion,with bloody foam dripping from his drunken nostrils._

_Then I watched as the Lord of the Horse Lords gained mastery of the monster, and I threw him his shield,_

_"Rally,to me, to me!" he cried, and the Host of Theodred, and the Host of Eomer came from wherever they wandered, and I followed at my lord's heels, and this time..._

Eowyn smiled, as tears broke free. "This time great heart was not denied."Theoden admitted, and smiled darkly, recalling the fool he had been in his old-age,and at the end of his former life and glory.

"And we turned the battle to the gates of the White City," he continued, "And there the great heart that I too long denied was greater than ever I knew..."

"Perhaps, but I did not slay Grond of Living Stone...That was given to Eomer ,my brother."

"Who is silent and thoughtful,and I don't know as I have ever spoken to you, though I have risked life and limb with your sister at my side, countless times."Faramir laughed, rocking back and forth on his haunches.

"Come, why not let him tell us? How he did slay terrible Grond with a wave of his mighty blade."

Eomer smiled, humbly, "Well, no, Captain, I slew him with the bars of the gates of Dreaming Gondor..."


	4. Chapter 4 Battle to the Gates

**Chapter 4: Battle to the Gates~**

_It was there in the Gates of the White City, ravaged by the dreaming fire, that never ceases to burn( for madness doesn't sleep) that we leaped from the saddles of mighty steeds, and they turned and raced themselves hard for war against the Man-Eaters. Then I saw my sister ,Eowyn,draw forth the Sword of Winter, and leap,arms spread like the wings of a bird, and lips foaming the poison of her agony, in front of It. For there in the gate, was he, the Serpent that had caused her curse,drunken with all the blood of the ages, and Grond of Living Stone, that great battery that stormed the Gates while yet the War of the Ring was dire, and the city was awake to its peril, was his very helm alive with its own evil fire. And she shouted above the cry of the wind,_

_"Come now ,you Snake! Come and let our end be in darkness, fire, and foam of poison!" she cried, and raced to meet him._

_And I knew that she would die, and go into darkness ,and be no more._

_And I could not let her die._

_So when the tail of the dragon coiled in the air, like the slave master's whip, and struck the gate into shards, I, even I , Eomund's son, stood over my fallen sister, as she lay ,white as a crushed lily in her blood, and I lifted up a bar of the fallen gate. And when the Snake came to claim her soul, and drink the valor of Eowyn with the last warmth of her blood,and marrow,I met him, and broke his fangs out with the bars of Gondor._

_And I swear, in all honesty, that I don't remember much of the battle with the Serpent, for it almost tore my mind in two, like the rending of a finely woven curtain, to fight with him, and I did so by hand..._

_But this I know. That I heard a cry come from the living stone,and I saw Grond gasp, and breathe his firey last, and I fell beside my sister, and watched, wide eyed and wondering, as the post of the Great Gates of Gondor, was driven deep into the Serpent's temple, and he whined like a dog smitten with a broom, and lay on his side, and coughed up his vile blood._

_And then City and the Serpent as one began to burn...And I remember my lord Theoden,lifting Eowyn ,as she lay in her blood, that had foamed and dried on her throat to being black as the wings of a raven,onto his shoulders, and he said to me...do you remember what you said, my lord?_

Theoden closed his eyes against the horror, "I said,'Come, Eomer, my son. For this End of Ends, is a dream only...And if it is to be the End of Visions, let it be a glorious ending!'

So with fallen Eowyn on my shoulders, we charged right throught the wreckage, and the sons of Gondor rallied to me, and under the foaming-bleeding of Eowyn in dieing. And then into fire we charged.

Into fire, and night, and poisonous streams...And I remember nothing now, for in that moment I saw all the Ages of Men pass before my eyes, and come crashing down in one glorious ruin, and like smoke the Horsemen passed, and the towers crumbled, and the songs and victory- feasting ceased, and then we were no more but Darkness, gone back to the dust."

"But the Serpent died, and out of the midst of his dieing, I saw Him..."Eowyn said, and she smiled at Tirgil."And He was clothed in the Fire of His dieing, and all was silent as He raised His hands, and in His fingers were the Strands of Dawn, ten great flames at the end of His fingers, and from them He wove a new music, and there was a pipe playing, and down from the wind, in a cloud of fire, came Frodo of Fingers Nine, and rather than a Ring of Power, he was crowned with a golden circlet of the Secret Fire, and of truth, and he piped to us, and beat his drum,and rallied the dust again. So that I,and my father Theoden, and Eomer, and bold Theodred who lead the Horselords, and many proud warriors of Gondor, together with Frodo and Tirgil, and these were clad in cloaks fire, over linen undergarments, and mail of mithril, awoke on the deck of the Iron Horse."

"And that was at the end of the First Day..."Bilbo piped up, taking up the telling again. "But whilst they slept a great many things happened, and serpents stirred up the Sea of Blackness, and there was a storm , and it seemed as though we were lost, had not Gandalf guided the way..."

Gandalf laughed heartily, "You flatter me ,young Master Baggins! _I merely ran the ship aground..."_


	5. Chapter 5 Turning Circles

**Chapter 5: Turning Circles,(Stopping Them Too)**

_And of course, when I say that I ran it aground, well there wasn't any 'ground'.More or less, I ran it against the Circles of the World. And they are always turning away out there in the blackness, and if you know to look for them (and I daresay I do, for I am old enough by far)well, I suppose you could ride them up into the High Heavens of the Valar, or below into the Deep Hells. And in our case, you could capsize the ship that you were forced aboard, and then when Master Bilbo says " on the deck" he means it was on the ship's keel, that had now replaced the deck, and our dear Thorin and Company bobbed about amount in the darkness running thick as water, much the same as cherries bob about in the cream._

"But comparing us to cherries in cream, wasn't anything at all like we really were. For that suggests that we may taken kindly to it! By that I mean, that cherries suggest people are happy, and well..."Kili piped up, and then snapped his lips shut firmly, and shook his head as if he didn't know how to continue, and was embarassed to speak before such a mighty host,at any rate, not realizing he was now considered as one of this great host,by his own valiant deeds.

"It wouldn't have mattered, if Bombur hadn't floated directly onto of all of us!"Thorin cried.

"Oh, aye, and we would have all drowned, (well, assuming we woulda drowned, I don't right know as we had already been,...well...hanged) But we would have been lost at any rate, had Bilbo not swam out from under Bombur's(meaning no offence,lad) rather large rear..."

(Bombur blushed, a deep red. "Oh, hi there! And now he is a 'cherry' ,Kili!" Fili whispered,elbowing his brother, who shushed him)

"-And he started to overturn us some rather large barrels, what had been the Horse's hold, and we hadn't known it; the Captain never sent us that-a-ways..."

"Now,as I recall..."Balin added, "You weren't at all thrilled Bilbo found the barrels at the time."

"And I remember hearing him...what did you say Bilbo?" Dwalin added in turn.

" I said 'GO ON,GET IN! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT,THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO!"Bilbo chirped, remembering the situation with exasperation.

"Well, I for one wasn't offended by any barrels,"Thorin said, matter- of -factly,"Because both times we escaped, and that's all that counts,really. Never mind that the lot of you got stiff and wet,and smelled like fish. Uh, rather.. that was the first time...This latter time...well..."

"Well!"Bilbo cried, "WELL,WHOEVER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING THE YOUNGER HOBBITS, OUGHT TO HAVE KNOWN!"

"I did know..."Gandalf glared at Merry and Pippin.

"Oi,now, we had to do something!" Pippin chirped, defensively. "After all, and at any rate, well,it seemed..."

"What Pip's trying to say is...errr..."Merry added.."

"What Pippin's trying to say is you blasted us right up into the Circles of the World! The barrels were full of gunpowder!, and seeing as we weren't in proper water, you should've realized they'd still have held a charge!"Bilbo gasped, still highly annoyed.

Frodo whined, loudly,"And I missed it, being dead!" (Sam frowned at that, and Frodo smiled apologetically)

"Oh, but...We DID realize it!"Pippin cried.

"Which is preciscely why we did it!" Merry added.

"And it isn't our fault you crammed Dwarves into our barrels! We were using them first!A genius plan of attack."Pippin pointed his pipe at him ,for emphasis.

"And it just so happens, unfortunately,the fuse was hidden under...well...Bombur's barrel.."Thorin had the graces not mention his "rather large rear" had concealed it from sight.

"Ah!But I bet you felt that! Didn't you, Bombur-lad." Bofur cried.

(By now the rotund dwarf was hiding bashfully in his beard)

"Felt it right in your Ja-"Nori began, before Thorin clamped over his mouth. "SHHHHH!You all have said quite enough, about Bombur and his rump."

Bombur smiled greatfully,at the young king.

"At any rate,"Pippin cried," It dealt with all the Serpents at once. A very good call on me and Merry's part. And then Frodo and Lord Tirgil showed up,all firey and fearsome...And Sam...Well, what were you doing ,Sam?"

Sam smiled, "Oh, well bless me, there's the question of the day! Or of the Second of the Days, as a matter of fact. And well,I was revenging my master on those terrible monsters...And I had a plan too ,I did, it required jamming a frying pan into the Wheels of the World!"

"Oiii!"Gimli cried, "As if the world would stop turning over so small a thing as a frying pan! And you it was what wasted the good salted pork, for extra wedging, I assume...young master hobbit!"

"Oh, now Gimli, that's hard! It was for a good cause, honestly!"

Legolas bowed his fair head, "Alas, that the very best of the food was the sacrifice for your good cause...But it is an offense( to our often offended dinner) we will have to forgo this time, my friends..."

Aragorn took a puff of his pipe, "And he only took the hardest of the dried meats, which are about too tough for my aging teeth anyway, although, can anyone tell my teeth are,indeed, aging ,I wonder?"

"Now, my friends, such small things as rings have held up the World's Circles. A frying pan full of such foods as the lot of you can somehow chew and swallow certainly would do the trick in a pinch."Boromir added.

Eowyn held up a hand,"I believe this story needs to be told from its beginning..."

So Sam took a deep breath, and began his story...


	6. Chapter 6 Rings of Fire

**Chapter 6: Rings of Fire**

_Then it was me, and only me, for my master was gone now, along with the Master -of- Us- All, and hard as it was, Sam Gamgee was left to carry on, so carry on I had best do. So I said to myself, "Hi now, Sam!_

_"Those Serpents shall keep coming up out of the Circles from seeming nothing, why it's a bit like me old Gammer's spinning wheel, that." So, then, I knew I'd have to do something about the like of them, and never mind that they are the Wheels on which the whole of Time turn. For the blood of Frodo, and Prince Tirgil, I couldn' t be bothered a bit that the Ages of the Song were about to come to one crashing halt on the count of my frying pan._

_Or more accurately, on the count of what I cooked in the before mentioned pan. Yes, Gimli, 'fraid it was I as fried up the last of the salted pork, and the beefstrips, and the fish Legolas caught a couple of days before we stumbled into the darkness. It was something 'bout the Shadow what preserved it for longer than I'd expected,but I wasn't gonna serve it up,nohow! But anyways,that's not doing us no favors discussing the proper keepings of fish, and what to serve your companions for supper, and what isn't fit...and all that matter we as Hobbits would go on about for hours, when there are tales and such as need telling. We were talking about Serpents.._

_So, what I did, was I made "Worm Bait" with all manner of the stuff that puts off smells when one is fryin' it. I even threw in a few good taters, and spiced 'em fine, I did. Didn't have no clue Merry and Pippin were rigging the barrels Bilbo and lot happened to attempt escaping drowning in, to explode all in a row,like ducks what ate too much salt. They were all filled with gunpowder, and they DID blow the Serpents sky high, but I had my eye out on one big one in particular, I did. I called him the Big Fish, and he had high spikes on his back, he did, the kind that could get nicely stuck in the wheels,and jam them all shut, where nothing else could come from out of the great Void they spun around. Well, I wedged the pan inbewteen the two wheels all the rest are hitched too, and I whistled, and I waited, for ol' Biggen to appear._

_And up he comes, and snatched his bite he does, and locks up the wheels just like I thought he'd do. And just then the Bomb up and goes off, so Bilbo and all his lot are blown into the wheels, and trapped in the Center, with whatever is crawling around in that Half-World, and I am beside myself wondering what else could possibly happen before the darkness takes all that's left of us, and we forever sleep..._

_But just then, when I lose all hope!, if it don't happen that Tirgil and Frodo show their faces again, from wherever they'd gone in dieing, and I don't know. And Frodo's all crowned in fire, and wearing armor of a frightening white, and he's been made a captain, he has, Master of All Rings,the LORD of the Rings, as Tirgil put it, now that their old master was dead and defeated, and just as well._

_And the Lord lead the battle on board the ship, and Frodo took my hand, and pulled me up into the wheels, and from the fire in his new mighty crown, he set them all ablaze, he did._

_And then I woke up...In a barren waste land, where the She-Elves, and Thorin's Company were making war with legions of the Balrogs, and Frodo was leading the fight._

All eyes turned to Frodo,and he smiled , bashfully, as he realized it was his turn to take up the telling.

"Well if being the diversion is leading a fight, then ,yes, I suppose I was...But I couldn't have done it without Sam anyway..."

The hosts leaned closer, as Frodo's eyes saw far off into a frightening darkness...This would be ,to their ears, the most eery of the chapters to our story...


	7. Chapter 7 The Siren of Hell

**Chapter 7: The Siren of Hell~**

_It happened that when we came to the The Nest of Darkness, as Balrog-home is called, that I had been given the lordship of many wheels of fire, and could wield them as great swords forever turning on themselves..._

_And so, I, and Samwise the Brave, as always, -and thank you ,Sam- no sooner did we stand in the place of the Night, than did I raise high the wheels about us, and began their song.._

"Hi now!It was very strange that!"Sam piped up,"Like when one wets their finger, and spins it on the rim of wine glass. A very strange wailing sound did the Rings of Fire make..."

Frodo nodded gravely, _It is the Anthem of the Shadow, the song that calls the Lords of Flame and Shadow to it's sound, and they cannot turn away. And so, in essence, I who died in fire with my lord, had become the Siren of Hell..._

_And ,thus it was, that the Ring of Seven Lords, the mightiest of the Lords of Flame and Shadow, had encircled the She-Elves, with great whips of flame, and they flogged them relentlessly, though I saw that every time they fell, they rose again, each one hauling her sister to her feet..._

_But the waves of Shadow were too much, and the light of the Evenstar diminished, till there was no great light in that place, for the light from the Rings of Fire is that cold light ,red as blood,and is only to give some shape to shadows, and not a light to guide one's path. Then said I , "Sam, lad, here is the Lady's glass. Call apoun her light, in our needy hour. Shine the way for me now, friend of friends, for I shall have need of light to guide my flaming wheels."_

" And when I took the light from , bless me, if out of the darkness, riding on a bolt of lighting, the Lady herself didn't drop out of the sky, and set fire to the pathways of the Shapeless Void!"Sam cried.

It was at that moment the others noticed, that the maiden on the arm of Tirgil, with the long golden hair, was very familiar.

"OH!"Gimli cried,"I thought that I should know you, though you seemed ..changed."

"When the Ring of Power was destroyed, and Bauglir escaped the Holds Eternal, I fell into a dark and troubled sleep." Galadriel said, and smiled, bright as the stars of heaven. But at the moment that Tirgil died in fire, and Frodo with him, where I lay enshrouded in darkness, cold on stone, like the Wraiths of Old, and could not move, then I saw him. And He came crashing through the darkness of death, like the Sun tearing His way through heaven ,as wild horses of the sea, and down He came, gathering fire ,like snow rolled into a boulder -sized sphere, gains more of its substance when the walls of ice come crashing to their ruin. And beside him, I saw Frodo like a falling star, my glass in his hands, and he was buring bright as the Last Lamp of Morning...

And so it was, when His flaming wings overshadowed me, that I breathed of His wind, and was changed. And the Silmaril wove into rings of mail, and plates of steel, and I was clad in armor like to Frodo's armor,( for I saw that he had woken in the Dark), and like to my Lord's terrible armor. Then I was a maiden again, and death made me wed to no one. And I became the Spring, the Ever-youth, Ever-Virgin Queen of the Crown Prince-King-to-Be of heaven.

"And that's how she appeared to us, when she felt out of heaven in a bolt of light, and in her wake she tore the head of the King of Seven, and the Seven Days were unraveled from out of the Spinning Wheels of Time." Sam piped up

_Then did I send the wheels of Fire to round up he Six-Which-Remained..._Frodo continued,_ And behold, their heads all were severed from their bodies, and their bodies burned away like pillars of brass, and melted in waves of hot metal, and I saw the She-Elves heave themselves up onto the Horn Crowned Raft that had been the Head of the Seventh..._

_"_Which is why you saw me dragging the head of the Balrog king when you awoke, and looked so shoked, Kili,"Tauriel laughed, as comprehension dawned in the young Dwarf's eyes.

"And a voyage to rememeber that was!" Sam cried, "Never did like boats, not when we were in proper water. And here we were afloat in the molten bones of the lords of hell! Hot brass licking at us like the tounges of serpents, and bless me, if I thought we were lost. But the Lady Galadriel could see out of the darkness where Tirgil was. "Sam smiled broadley.

"Oh, but Sam-lad," Galadriel laughed,"We'd have gone no where , for those terrible horses of the brass, and Wraiths of the Blood, were not Arwen Evenstar standing on the Horned Prow."

All eyes turned the Lady Arwen as it was her turn to take up the telling...


	8. Chapter 8 Evenstar's Rising

**Chapter 8: The Evenstar's Rising**

**Being the End of the Tales of New Shadow.**

**(After which follow the Tales of New Light)**

_Only by the grace that was given me, by my Deathless kin, did I take to the prow in the Night of the Souls, and cast back my cloak, and it was even burned away in the fire of the blood of the Kings of Hell, and even the locks of my hair began to burn at the ends, and I saw from the corners of my eyes, as the others began to catch fire, and Sam, not changed as we had been, began to wither in the heat, so that Frodo tucked him 'neath his cloak, and they held on for the sake of Mercy..._ Began Evenstar, and Aragorn shivered at the thought of the burning of her raven hair ,the lovely likeness of Tinuviel her grandmother of old, who herself was not seated by the Story Fire.

_And so it was, that the Horses of Hell ,risen out of the blood of their masters, called to us, from where I do not know...And the tramp of their hooves stirred up the dust ,of bones long devoured, out of the midst of the blood, and to my eyes, Tirgil was nearly lost. But my star, woven of the grace of the Elder Children, calls to Him, and He to it. So, that, even when my eyes were blind, as darkness descended, and gave wings to the Horses, even then could I still see. Then the keen eyes of the Lady Galadriel would see His shape again, and hope would arise in our hearts, and thereby, the Star of My Grace, burned ,thus, even brighter..._

_And so it was,that we were launched, again into the battle on the deck of the Iron Horse,and behind us came a sea of molten blood, and things were born of it, or rather born anew, for the Lords of Dakrness had swallowed, truly,even worlds, that were spit up from their vile blood, and began to cast their shadows again, and I saw as it was, Tirgil turn, and roll again the Shapes, as if they were of clay, into round spheres, and I heard the cries of thousands of thousands of lives, beyond our Middle-Realm, where lives had been, and the Other-Children walked, far away, beyond our knowing. It is now known that they are those to whom the Blue Istari had been sent, and they are those to whom our Lord will also send us, soon..._

All eyes turned curiously then to Tirgil, who smiled, and took up His own part of the telling ,at last.

_Know this, while yet my children fought, on the decks of that Last Battle, and the final darkness of the deep was turned out beyond the circles, and the Ages came down with the sound of a thousand kingdom's walls, and the Drums of Stone, and the wheels of the world were silent. Know this, while Aragorn, the valiant King-Among-Men lead my people in that last fight, when all was darkness, and sheer madness. When Legolas could hear the Phantom Vampiress placing curses on his soul, and was driven yet so mad, he nearly jumped from the prow, had not our Gimli saved him..."_ The Lord paused amidst His train of thought, and nodded to Gimli, to ,at this moment, first tell his end of the story, before He finished His own.

_"Aye, it is true. For I heard her also speaking from the Blood of the Lords of Shadow,for she was their Lady, was she not? I saw him in that dark hour, and though he fought bravely, and slew many of the small serpents,and pestilence rolled forth from the deep, still no fight was as great as the fight in his mind. And I saw him climb to the Crown of the Horse(for the Ship had been turned upright again,and all those ,((Thorin , and his dwarves, and Bilbo ,for instance,)) that were sucked off the ship, were forced, a seeming instance again, back on the decks, in the wake of waves of Vilest Blood). And Eowyn did not see it, for she and her lord, and his sons, had just been cast again from their own Midnight of the Horselords. And Faramir did not see it, though he was captain of the ship, for he himself fought shoulder to hand, with a serpent who took on the hands and feet and eyes of a man, who tried to steer the helm off course. And Aragorn did not see it, for he had men to shepherd, and wars to lead. And Thorin did not see it, for the Defiler sent his vile spawn into the blood, and children were born to Azog out of the Foul-Blood, in the heat of Seven Days, and then were Oakenshield's hands very full of war-making, and he had come back from his little blasted-barrel adventure, not a moment too soon. And Frodo,and Sam, and Arwen, and Tauriel, and even keen-eyed Queen Galadriel saw it not, for the heat of their fight had nigh consumed them, and they lay as if they were dead in the center of the up-turned deck. And Gandalf saw it not, for he must stand at the center of the deck, and offer a Veil of Secret Fire over us, lest the Eyes of the Serpents did consume us. Nay , I Gimli Gloin'sson, I alone saw him, rise in madness, like a crow to his prey. He climbed through the carnage,swift and terrible _was _he _, _and cast many down in his wake. And then ,he spread his arms to the sky, as if they were mighty wings, and would have cast himself into firey waves, and into the searing hate of her Voice in the Wind, and would have ended her with his pure, elven blood, but would, too , have ended .And, so, I cried out and pulled him backwards from the Prow. But ,under her madness, he did not know me, so we fought till the spell she spoke gave her shape, and I was then able to talk some sense into him..."_

"Meaning he hit me rather hard in the head with an axe's handle." Legolas interjected.

"Yes, and then we fought her for the rest of the Days-That-Remained, and the Lord finished what it was that he did...

_Know then, what I did was this..._The Lord continued, satisfied with Gimli's account,though the others yet gaped in a moment of horror, but were soothed by Gimli and Legolas' peace.

_All throughout those Seven Days, in life,in death, though you saw not, though you were afraid, and you heard it not... I gave shape again to the world's that Darkness had taken, I seperated Chaos into Order,and gave the Light breath. And though you saw not, stars began again to burn, and worlds to turn on new wheels, like potter's wheels, and waters to spread forth contained in vessels of the planets, and the dry land did appear, and then forth sprung the trees, and the mountains raised their heads, and the Other Children ,that had slept in their graves since the Day of Melkor's betrayal, and even before the Song, were suddenly waking to a new earth,and a new heaven I spun, that before you._

_Though you saw it not, the sky about you went from Darkness to the Blues of Midnight. And, my friends, though you felt it not,the Dawn began, and in Seven Days its glory ,at last, poured forth, and the Blue Wizards stood, one at the Mountain of the East, and one at the Mountain of the West, and between their rods I let the fire of the horizon flow. And it burned up the vile sea on which you sailed in a blast of fire ,though you knew it not, though you knew not that ,indeed ,I loved you, and I was always watching, always weaving a new earth for you. And so, I took you up from there, and you awoke as you are,right here,in the Camps of Liberation. To a future in which you shall be the Lords of Water,Earth,and Sky, my Servants, who will guide them through their Ages, and teach them the ways of the One Father...for this is the way of it, the Elder teach the Younger, and the world's continue spinning, and their music never cease._

Then the Servants of Tirgil fell silent, and looked apoun one another in gladness, and looked to the Future with hope, for never could darkness quench His light. Nor can any New Shadow come that His fire wil not vanquish. For that is the way of it, the Fire was older than the Darkness, and shines ever into the Darkness, and though the Darkness is unaware,it only serves the Fire for fuel, and the Lord's hands as a canvas for making, as the Ages of the Worlds go marching on...

**Being the End of the Tales of New Shadow~**


End file.
